Lanarkshire people have the chance this weekend to get in on the heated debate about ‘Creation versus Evolution’.

A group of Christians led by Hairmyres surgeon and Christian youth leader Doctor Nagy Iskander have arranged a visit by controversial American academic Dr Terry Mortenson, a lecturer and researcher at Answers in Creation in the US, to Scotland this weekend.

Dr Mortenson will be speaking at the Answers in Genesis Scottish Conference being held in Hamilton College assembly hall off the Bothwell Road in Hamilton on Saturday and Sunday.

The first lecture will take place on Saturday, June 8, from 7-8pm and will be on the topic ‘Creation in six days or 14 billion years?’

It will be followed from 8.30-9.30pm with a lecture and debate on ‘Origin of Species: was Darwin Right?’

And on Sunday, June 9, the topic will be ‘Creation versus evolution: why it matters’.

Dr Iskander, who was born in Egypt, has visited the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky a number of times and was involved in setting up an Arabic website to make information on the museum available to people living in the Middle East.

Urging local people to attend the lectures, Dr Iskander, who runs the Jesus and Me Club for children in East Kilbride and the Discovery Bible Group said: “The question of origins has occupied the human mind for many centuries: did God really create the World and all thatis in it? Or did life begin by the random collision of enoughof the atoms which formcomplex molecules toproduce biological cellscapable of replicating themselves?

“This debate is usually conducted in heated discussions that produce more heat than light, but let us approach this matter in a calm and scientific way, and let us examine the evidence before we jump to conclusions.

“Both the creationists and evolutionists have the same facts – we have the same earth, the same geological layers, the same fossils – but when we examine the facts we might come to different conclusions, depending on our starting point.

He added: “For example, an atheist who does not believe in God has to accept that in the beginning there was nothing and that nothing exploded to bring the universe into existence.

“But a Christian will start by the first verse in the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth”, which explains the source of life (God) and the time (the beginning) and space and matter (Heaven and earth).

“If you want to learn more about this topic, please join us at the Answers in Genesis Scottish conference at the assembly Hall of Hamilton College.”